Pruning shears



July 16, 1940. TRAPP PRUNING SHEARS Filed Dec. 9, 1938 INVENTOR ADOLPH d TEA/ P Maze/V;

ATTORN EYS Patented July 16, 1940 t s 2,207,994

. PRUNING SHEARS v Adolph Trapp, Southington, Connl. assignor to The Peck, Stow & Wilcox Company, South ,ington, Conn, a corporation" of Connecticut Application December .9, 1938, Serial; No.;2 ll.748 e-olaims. o1 .3 o 2 3 UNITED STATES This invention relates particularly to pruning and bear upon the outer surfa'cesof the bearing shears of the well known flat platentype. The cheeks l'-I' of the other lever. is a pivot invention consists of certain novel anduseful .or stud-penetratingthe, cheeks l-l and 4-4 features of improvement in the construction and to form ;a :fulcrum. for the levers I-4. This 5 arrangement of the essential parts. 1 pivot is located out of line with the straight work 5 One objectlis to provide certain improvements facemfl the platen. for the purpose later dethat will permit of rapid and economical pro- 'C bed- 6 is a knife em er: avingla strai duction of a high-grade shear. cutting edgegatitstforward,end and a tail .6

Another object is to provide aknife element at its rear end. lheknife memberis guided in 10 that may be quickly and easily detached for rea definite plane by and between the bearing 10 placement or sharpening without dismembercheeks l-l' as the shears are opened and nt of any. of th th parts, closed. When'the knife member is in operative Another object is to make the effective length position, the tail, 6 is in position tobe engaged of the work supporting face of the platen corby the inner Wall of the grip portion of the long 5 respond substantially to at; least the effective ve I; The knife member is p y length of the cutting edge of the knife. nected intermediate it ength to the cheeks 4-4 Another object is to provide an adjustment by a removable P r lt 1 at One side of the that permits the platen face and the knife edge fulcrum p 5} e inside Cheeks are p to be angularly adjustedrelativelyto each other vided with pa ges or slots l".'-l" of .a size to so that when the shears are closed the cutting provide free clearance for the y of t bolt 20 edge of the knife may be caused to bear from I as the shears are opened and closed. The pivot end to end on the platen. 5 for the levers l-4 is offset from the plane of The above and other objects will be apparent the working face of the platen so that the knife to anyone skilled in the art from a. reading of and p n wi ppr h each other obliquely to the following description and an examination e ect the. well known draw-cut. 8 is a sp 2'5 of the accompanying drawing, in which-- secured at its rear .end to the grip portion of Fig. 1 is a side elevation of my improved the lever I, s free endpres g toward the p shears shown as open; I l of the other lever 4. Preferably this spring bears 2 is a Simnar View howing t Shears against the knife tail 6 so that it will not only closed; 1 hold the knife yieldingly in place but will also 30 Fig, 3 is asection on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1; perform its usual function of opening the shears.

Fi 4 is n nd vi w of the parts s ho in 9 conventionally indicates a latch of any well Fig. 2. 1 known form such as commonly employed in I have shown and will describe a preferred pruning shears to. holdthem closed when not form of my invention, realizing that some n see f ective cutting edge. .O the knife 3 5 changes and modifications maybe made without and the effective length of the flat work supdeparting from the spirit and scope thereof. '1 porting c o he. pl ten or spond substanl represents'a long lever which may be shaped tially .so that the full length cutting function from wrought metal by dies'to form' at its' rear of the knife and a corresponding full length 40 a channeled grip portion. -Forward'of this grip supporting function of the platen may be b,

the side flanges are widened to form broad parutilized. f Q i allel spaced bearing cheeks l"l' and forward In Fig. 2, showing-the-shearS closed, the efof said cheeks the side flanges are extended to f ve length of the platen nd knife are seen form two parallel spaced extensions l"-I upto correspond; In, Fig. ,1, showing the shears on which, a platen 2 is mounted, the work supopened, a portion of the flat work face of, the 45 porting face of which platen is straight and platen is shown in dotted lines as retired beflat, while the back forms a web 2' projecting tween the cheeks 4-'-4' ready to advance and between the extensions l"-l" and clamped becrowd the work against the" knife when the tween them by any suitable means such as a shears start to close and to follow 'it up while clamp screw 3.. 4 represents a short lever which closing. I v 50 may be drawn up from wrought metal by dies The platen and the knife are angularly adto form a channeled grip portion at the rear. justable relatively to each other. In this instance The side. flanges forward of the grip are exadjustment is effected by shifting the platen tended and widened to form broad parallel bearlongitudinally on the extensions l"--l' The 1mg cheeks 4-'4 spaced sufflciently to straddle sides of the platen which bear on said extensions 55 are formed on a slight are as shown, and the supporting edges of the extensions are correspondingly shaped. Hence, by shifting the platen to and fro on the extensions the contact line of the straight platen face may be angularly adjusted to coincide with the straight cutting edge of the knife when the shears are closed. By this means any variation that may occur in the alinement of the knife edge due to sharpening or resharpening may be quickly and easily compensated for. The web of the platen should of course have a clearance slot 2" for the clamp screw 3 sufficiently large to permit'the platen tobe shifted sumciently for adjustment purposes.

I claim: 1. Pruning shears comprising a knife member having a straight cutting edge at one end, a platen having a flat straight work face of a length substantially equal at least to the length as said cutting edge for cooperation therewith,

means to move said knife cutting edge and platen obliquely toward and from each other as the shears are closed and opened, and a removable fulcrum pin for detachably connecting said knife member at a point intermediate its ends to the end of the short lever and a fulcrum pin connectingthe' end of the short lever to the long lever at a point adjacent to said fulcrum pin.

2. Pruning shears comprising a long lever having a grip portion at its rear end, a platen supporting portion at its forward end and intermediate spaced parallel bearing cheeks, a platen having a straight fiat work face carried by the forward end of said lever, a short lever pivoted at one end to the first lever intermediate the length of the latter and out of line with the plane of the platen work face, a knife member having a straight cutting edge at its forward end for coaction with the platen workface and having a tail at its rear end, a pin for detachably connecting the fulcrumed end of the short lever to said knife at a point between the cutting edge and the tail of the latter and at one side of the pivot for said levers, the tail of said knife being adapted to overlap the inside of the short lever back of the fulcrum to be actuated thereby in a closing direction. 1

3. Pruning shears comprising along lever having a grip portion at its rear end,- a platen supporting portion at its forward end and intermediate spaced parallel bearing cheeks, a platen having a straight flat work face carried by the forward end of said lever, a short lever pivoted at one end to the first lever intermediate the length of the latter and out of line with the plane of the platen work face, a knife member having a straight cutting edge at its forward end for coaction with the platen work face and having a tail at its rear end, a pin for detachably connecting the fulcrumed end of the short lever to said knife at a point between the cutting edge and the tail of the latter and at one side of the pivot for said levers, the tai-l'of said knife being adapted to overlap the inside of the short lever back of the fulcrum to be actuated thereby in a closing direction, and a spring for yieldingly urging the tail of said knife toward the inside of the rear portion of said short lever and also tending to open said shears.

4. Pruning shears comprising a long lever having a channeled grip, the side flanges thereof merging into two parallel spaced bearing cheeks and continuing forwardly therefrom to form two spaced platen supporting extensions, a platen having a straight flat work face rigidly held on said extensions, a short lever having a channeled grip portion, the side flanges thereof merging into two parallel bearing cheeks at the forward end spaced to straddle and bear upon the outside surfaces of the first mentioned cheeks, a pivot connecting said levers bypassingthrough all four of said cheeks at a point out of line with the work face of said platen, a knife member having a straight cutting edge atone end and .a tail at the other end, the rear portion of said knife member being insertible between and laterally supported by said spaced cheeks of the long lever thetail .of said knife member extending rearwardly to'overlap the inside of the grip portion of the short lever back of said pivot, a removable pin operatively connecting the cheeks of the short lever with an intermediate portion of the knife and at one side of said fulcrum pin,

thecheeks of the long lever-having enlarged passages to provide free working'clearance for said knife connecting pin as the shears are opened and closed.

5. In a pair of pruning shears, two pivotally connected levers, a knife member movable to and fro by one lever, a platen member having a flat work face mounted on the other lever for movement toward .and from said knife, said mounting comprising, a forward extension on the last mentionedlever having an arc-shaped seat'for said platen, the latter being shif-table thereon to control the line of contact of said work face relatively to the knife edge when said parts are brought into contact on closing the shears.

6. Pruning shears comprising a .knife -member having a cutting edge at its forward end and atailat its rear end, a platen having a flat work face facing toward the cutting edge of the knife for cooperation therewith, a long lever carrying said platen at its forward end and having va grip at its wear end, a short leverfihaving a grip at its wrearend, said short lever being fulcrumed at its forward end to said long lever at apoint between vthe grip andv the platen carrying portions of the latter and out of line with the plane of .the platen face, with means directly connecting said knifemember between its cutting edge and tail to said short lever, the tail-Iofsaidknife member overlappingthe inner side'of the grip .of said short lever whereby it may bemoved thereby 'asthe grip portions of both levers approach I each other. 1 ADOLPl-l J. TRAPP. 

